Big move today in Isilon Systems: shares of the storage systems company have jumped $1.08, or 19.9 percent, to $6.49, on volume of more than 660,000 shares, or more than 4x the daily average. Today’s rise boosts the company’s three-day rally to 33 percent.
So, what’s going on here?
Well, here’s what I know.
Storage maker NetApp last week named Tom Georgens its chief executive. It was an orderly succession–Georgens was the company’s president and chief operating officer, and a board member since 2008–but as with any transition, the new executive will try to put his stamp on the company.
EMC on Friday extended the period Data Domain has to respond to its $30 all-cash offer to acquire the company. The offer, which was previously set to expire at 12 midnight on Monday, June 29, is now extended to July 10.
Tech companies buy their neighbors much more often than they acquire companies elsewhere, according to a study of tech acquisitions since 2002.
The conclusion isn’t shocking. There are a number of reasons why a buyer would be more familiar with companies based nearby. They’re more likely to share investors, have employees who worked for both companies, or maybe the CEOs belong to the same golf club.
Until three weeks ago, few people outside corporate data centers knew much about deduplication technology, which makes data storage more efficient by culling repetitive documents. That changed when data storage companies NetApp and EMC got into a bidding war last month for a leading provider of the heretofore obscure software.
NetApp shares have extended yesterday’s rally, which apparently is due to ongoing speculation that the company could be an acquisition target. Cowen’s Louis Miscioscia assessed the rumors in a research note this morning. He says an acquisition of the company is possible, but unlikely.
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